


Sweater Weather

by williamastankova



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Beaches, Flirting, Graduation, Holidays, M/M, Post-Graduation, Sexy Times, Sort Of, Summer, Summer Vacation, Suncream, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 15:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17286467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/williamastankova/pseuds/williamastankova
Summary: Mildly inspired by the Neighbourhood's song under the same name: Billy and Steve graduate, and the former wants them to spend a week back home in sunny California together. Flirting with sun cream shenanigans ensues.





	Sweater Weather

Hawkins was a piece of shit. It was undeniable - it was always cold, he knew virtually nobody here except his good-for-nothing dad and step-family, and everyone at school was a complete asshole. Well... pretty much everyone.

Within his first week, he's given up on trying to make 'friends', and instead gathers a group of mindless idiots who fear him too much to go against anything he says (Tommy, for example, who laughed at every bullshit joke he made and patted him on the back basically for wiping his ass). Everyone else who wasn't in his group was either insignificant, or an enemy... but then he met Steve Harrington. The pretty boy with the eyes of a doe who pretty much stayed out of everyone's way, because he apparently lost everyone's respect when he called Tommy and Carol douchebags last year. From what Billy had managed to gather, it was because they'd said something he didn't like about Nancy - the girl who he was always talking to, following after like a lost puppy. Billy, based on all of this, should have thought of him as a complete loser who wasn't worth his time, but he didn't.

He didn't know why he did it, but after their very first encounter at whoever's party it was, Billy made an actual effort to speak to Steve. In public, he was less than kind, but when Steve messed up in basketball or generally looked like he needed a little help, Billy managed to catch him alone - no cronies, no Nancy - and have a word with him. Even if just a quick, "don't worry about it, man" with Steve barely nodding in response, Billy felt somehow accomplished each time they interacted. Over time, Billy allowed himself to admit he had grown rather fond of Steve, and was even beginning to feel... more towards him.

Following Steve's breakup from Nancy, they began hanging out more and more often. At first, they only met for an hour or so at a time, when they wanted to get something to eat (or Billy needed an excuse to get away from his house, and Steve offered to let him vent at him). Gradually, they called more, and sat with each other in more public areas, and Steve even joined him for lunch one day at school. They got so close that, once the year was up and they'd graduated, Billy dared to invite Steve away with him.

"It's not like I'm moving back or anything," he'd explained, "I just want to go back for a week or two, that's all."  
Steve stopped what he was doing and looked back at him, "So you want me to go to California with you?"

Billy nodded, then grinned boldly. If he was honest, he knew it was unlikely Steve would say no. After all, it was the summer after high school, so he didn't have a job to do or work to finish off, plus it would mean he didn't have to worry about running into Nancy and Jonathan together in the streets or shops - wherever he went. That wound was still a little raw. Taking a moment to think about it, Steve nodded, then joined Billy in his smiling.

That weekend, they packed up and hopped into Billy's car, taking the drive to his hometown. Billy, though he couldn't ever admit it aloud, hadn't ever been so excited to go anywhere. He missed the beaches back home: Hawkins just wasn't the same. Yeah, it had Steve, but now - or, at least, for a week - California would have Steve, and that sounded just like heaven to Billy.

They stopped off in some dingy motel, where they barely got a bed each. Their room looked old and the TV was far from fantastic, but Billy couldn't keep the smirk off his face. As soon as their bags hit the floor, he declared that Steve get ready for the beach, because they weren't going to go anywhere else while they were there.

Donned in their swimming gear, they took the short walk to the nearest sandy beach, where Billy had to stop and inhale, closing his eyes and relishing in how the sun beat down onto his skin. He wiggled is toes, feeling the sand beneath his feet, and he flexed his abdomen in pleasure. When he opened his eyes, he was euphoric from a completely different sense, as he took in the sight before him:

Steve was setting up the chair he'd insisted on bringing with him - "really, Harrington, you're going to  _sit_  when you're on a famous Cali beach" - and so Billy had ample time to admire him. Steve, albeit slim, was muscular, especially in his legs and arms. Billy monologued how much of a shame it was that he insisted on hiding his figure beneath so many layers of clothing all the time, because if he didn't he could have this all the time. When he bent over to fiddle with the chair legs, Billy could trace the outline of his ass through his swim shorts, and  _damn_ , was that boy hiding something.

He stood back up, having successfully erected his chair - and, unknowingly, something else entirely - and brushed his hair back from his eyes, so he could put on his shades. God damn, what Billy wouldn't give to feel how that hair felt, what with how much product he knew Steve invested in. He often imagined how Steve might keen into his palm as he ran his fingers through his hair, and then not so often he imagined tugging on Steve's hair, listening to his delicious sounds, as he-

"Billy!"  
Snapped out of his daydream, he saw Steve waving him over. Sauntering to him, Billy put down the small bag he'd packed with the bare essentials (sun cream, towels, the works) and gestured for Steve to ask what he had so clearly wanted to.  
"Do you mind helping me out?" He thrust sun cream into his hand, "I can't do it myself."

Perhaps Billy should have 'bro'd it out', and made fun of Steve a little. He could have said he was like a child, asking his mom to put his cream on so he didn't burn. He might have said he was like a cranky old man, determined never to get a tan. But he didn't. No, he simply nodded, lathered up his palms, turned Steve around to his back ,and began rubbing him down, starting at his shoulders.

Said shoulders were surprisingly broad. It took him a noticeable amount of time to run his hands from Steve's neck to the tops of his arms, and he did so multiple times just to be sure. He gradually worked his way down, massaging over Steve's shoulder blades and further down his back, until he was just above his hips. Pausing for only a moment, he spun Steve around, catching him by surprise with his firm grip, and reapplied the lotion, starting this time at Steve's neck. When he reached both hands loosely around Steve's neck, he felt the other man inhale sharply and move involuntarily. Billy smirked and dragged his hands down Steve's chest, in a way that he couldn't even pretend was to apply the cream.

Steve watched his movements intently. He seemed dazzled by how Billy's hands worked their magic, running across him like a masseuse. He only broke his trance to look up at Billy, who was already looking at him, studying how he reacted to his touches. There was a glint in his blue eyes Steve didn't recognise, and Billy knew it. He could feel the sensation burning behind his eyes, and it only grew as he teased, removing his hands from Steve's torso. He hovered, tracing along body mere centimeters away from his actual skin, until he reached the unexplored expanse of Steve's waist. He suddenly grasped, knocking the wind out of Steve, and chuckled darkly to himself as he let go and told Steve he'd be in the water if he needed him.

This was a vacation he was more than ready for.

**Author's Note:**

> update to 'drop dead, gorgeous' coming soon!


End file.
